This invention relates to a system which continuously supplies a number of kinds of solution materials from material storing tanks to a preparing/mixing device, and more particularly to a device for automatically switching a destination to which the solution materials are to be supplied.
Heretofore, in order to switch the destination of a number of kinds of solution materials, the connection of the material supply pipe is manually changed to provide another material supply pipeline. This work is rather troublesome. In order to eliminate the troublesome work, a method as shown in FIG. 6 is employed: That is, in the method, a number of valves are connected to the pipelines, and the valves thus connected are automatically operated to provide different material supply pipelines.
The former method mentioned above is disadvantageous in the following points:
(1) Because of the manual work, the pipes may be erroneously connected. PA1 (2) Because of the manual work, it takes a certain period of time to accomplish it. PA1 (3) In order to prevent the erroneous connection of the pipes (described in paragraph (1) above), it is necessary to detect whether or not the connection of the pipes is satisfactory. PA1 (4) The necessity for detecting whether or not the connection of the pipes is acceptable (described in paragraph (3) above) further increases work load and time. PA1 (1) The resultant product may be unacceptable because of contamination due to the leakage of solution through the valves. The probability of this difficulty occurring is proportional to the number of pipes and valves. PA1 (2) The equipment cost is great. For instance in the case where one hundred (100) kinds of chemicals are used by switching thirty (30) piping systems depending on the kinds of products to be manufactured, it is necessary to provide three thousand (3000) automatic valves, and electromagnetic valves for operating the latter. PA1 (3) Since the pipes are extended between the material storing tanks and the solution preparing/mixing devices, the pipes filled with the solution materials are considerably long. This means that replacing the solution materials in the material storing tanks suffers unavoidably from a great loss of solution materials. PA1 (4) Since the material storing tanks are connected through the pipes to the solution preparing/mixing devices, the pipes filled with the solution materials are long. Hence, in replacing the solution materials in the material storing tanks, cleaning the pipes and the tanks takes a relatively long time. PA1 (1) In the case where the device is so designed that an electric motor is provided for each of the moving units, it is necessary to provide as many motors, ball screws and control units as the number of hoses. PA1 (2) In the case where, in each unit, one electric motor or pneumatic cylinder is moved; that is, it is used commonly, the number of drive sources may be two; however, it is necessary to provide as many clutch mechanism connecting/disconnecting means and position control means as the hoses to be connected. PA1 a plurality of material receiving pipes connected respectively to a plurality of material storing tanks; PA1 a plurality of material feeding pipes connected respectively to a plurality of solution preparing/mixing devices; PA1 a holder for holding the connecting joints of the material feeding pipes; and PA1 means for moving the holder in a direction of Z-axis and in a direction of X-axis, and PA1 the connecting joints of the material receiving pipes are arranged in one line in the direction of X-axis, PA1 the connecting joints of the material feeding pipes are held at a standby region in such a manner that the connecting joints of the material feeding pies are arranged in one line in the direction of Z-axis, PA1 rigid pipes in parallel with Y-axis, flexible hoses in parallel with Z-axis, and flexible hoses in parallel with X-axis are connected, in the stated order, to the connecting joints of the material feeding pipes, respectively, with the free ends of the flexible hoses in parallel with X-axis connected to the solution preparing/mixing devices, PA1 the rigid pipes are arranged in the standby region and made larger in length towards the top of the standby region to prevent interference of the flexible hoses in parallel with Z-axis and the flexible hoses in parallel with X-axis with each other, and PA1 the moving means operates to move the holder to the standby region, where the holder holds the connecting coupling of a selected one of the material feeding pipes, and then to move the holder to the connecting coupling of a selected one of the material receiving pipes, for connection of those connecting couplings to each other.
The latter method mentioned above suffers from the following problems:
In order to eliminate the above-described difficulties, a device for automatically achieving the connection of flexible pipes such as hoses has been disclosed by Japanese Patent Application (OPI) No. 215300/1993 (the term "OPI" as used herein means an "unexamined application").
With the conventional device, one of the connecting joints of two hoses to be connected to each other is moved vertically, while the other is moved horizontally, until they are connected to each other.
However, the device is still disadvantageous in the following points:
Those problems are serious in proportion to the increasing number of hoses. For instance in the case where the device has more than thirty (30) pipelines, the device is unavoidably bulky, and is troublesome in maintenance.
In view of the foregoing, an object of the invention is to provide an automatic pipeline switching device which is free from the problem that, in changing the destination to which a number of kinds of solution materials are to be supplied during continuous production, changing the material supply pipeline takes a lot of time and labor, and which is able to handle a number of pipelines effectively, and is compact in arrangement and simple in maintenance.
The foregoing object of the invention has been achieved by the provision of an automatic pipeline switching device, which, according to the invention, comprises:
in which device